Risk Assessment for the Road Network in the French-Italian Border Region Using Web Services

Abstract

This article discusses a pilot implementation of the architecture and web services being developed within the EC Framework Programme 6 Integrated Project "Open Architecture and Spatial Data Infrastructure for Risk Management" (ORCHESTRA, http://www.eu-orchestra.org/) being undertaken by BRGM, JRC and Ordnance Survey with the collaboration of local partners in the French-Italian border region between Nice and Genoa. The basis of the pilot is the evaluation of risk to the road network and the impact of road network disruption by, for example: earthquakes, landslides, floods, fires and chemical spills. Road closures can have a dramatic impact on the economic, social and functional life of a region and these impacts can spread far from the site of the blockage and, even, across international borders. The region chosen for this pilot project is especially prone to hazardous events and also, due to the lack of redundancy in the road network within the region, disruption to a major route can have a large effect. This pilot will seek to create a distributed network of web services that will access hazard, route and traffic information held within databases based at the data providers.